On Monday, U.S.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to the members of the National Restaurant Association to tell them that they need to create the appropriate transition to tasteless food, so that eventually Americans will learn to “adjust” their tastes to the kind of food that the federal government believes that they should eat.

“You know, ” Vilsack said, “as we deal with this issue of reducing sodium and sugar, it sounds simple to do, but you all know better than I do, it’s not as simple as it sounds.”

“It’s going to take some time for people’s taste to adjust and they will adjust over time, but it will take some time. So, we have to make sure that what we do is create the appropriate transition. At the end of the day, though, we’ve got to deal with this.”

U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e. Where does this idiot get the idea that he gets to tell Americans what they can eat?

The restaurant trade group is working with the USDA to promote the government’s revised dietary guidelines for Americans. Americans will pay no attention whatsoever, as they have paid none to all the previous dietary guidelines.

If restaurant food is not tasty, people will not go to the restaurants. More empty storefronts, more unemployment.

OVER AT THE FDA:

The Food and Drug Administration is going to ban the over-the-counter asthma inhalers to save the atmosphere from the microscopic amount of damage they could possibly do to the ozone layer. (Junk science). The FDA said that patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch to prescription-only, less-effective inhalers that are more expensive, and obviously less readily available.

Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the prescription inhalers that contain the drug albuterol range from $30 to $60. The epinephrine inhalers are considered more effective. The ban will take effect January 1. The ban will have no measurable effect on the ozone layer. More will die from asthma.

THEN THERE’S THE INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP:

Four federal agencies (IWG) have delivered a plan to drastically censor any food advertisers with products deemed to be “too high” in sodium, sugar, or fat that cater to any viewing audience between the ages of two and eleven. Advertisers would lose their slots on shows like American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and Glee. The regulators plan to get away with this by calling their rules “voluntary guidelines” but they are voluntary in name only.

Heritage’s Diane Katz explains:

Food manufacturers can hardly ignore “recommendations” from the very federal agencies that exercise regulatory authority over their every move. It is akin to a cop asking for ID or to search one’s vehicle: While the law treats such citizen cooperation as voluntary, most individuals would not view it as such, nor would the police look kindly on anyone who denies their requests.

Doesn’t sound bad? Consider Cheerios, peanut butter, pickles, peanuts and yoghurt for example. This isn’t based (as usual) on reliable research. The Institute of Medicine has found no link between advertising and children’s food choices.

There is some question about the whole childhood obesity problem. Many say it is more attributable to lack of exercise. Others point out that estimates of childhood obesity are based on Body Mass Indexes (BMI) that were never intended to be such a measure, and thus are flawed.

That’s your new federal government: intrusive, bullying, poorly informed, totalitarian, and ignorant about the free market and free Americans. The price of those twisty lightbulbs is soaring. Health Care costs are going to soar as soon as ObamaCare kicks in. Power hungry people just want to tell everyone how to live their lives. How little they understand the American people.